British racer Emil Bernstorff completed a perfect start to his Formula Middle East campaign, adding another two lights-to-flag victories in Bahrain on Saturday.
The ADAC Formel Masters and F3 Euro Series graduate started both races from pole (after winning the first two events on Friday) and never faltered, bringing the car to the finish line in first. “This time I had a good start and couldn?t see Nabil in my mirrors so I pulled clear again and just finished it off there,” said Bernstorff, mentioning the fight against his main series rival Nabil Jeffri. “The track is really nice, the car is quite fun to drive and I learnt a few things so overall it was a good weekend for me.”
Jeffri, who in 2012 became the vice-champion of the JK Racing Asia series, finished both of the Saturday races in second after achieving the same result on Friday. “I expected to win but Emil was using the number 1 car, that was my lucky car. Finishing second in all four races was okay, but definitely I wanted all wins but I was more comfortable in my number 1 car, so he was lucky to get my car,” jokingly said Jeffri.
24-year-old Bahraini Raed Raffii kept up with the consistency of the leaders, finishing both Saturday races in third, as he did on Friday as well. Satisfied with the result, he said: “It’s good to be on the podium in all four races. When getting on the podium becomes easy, you get keen to go to the next step to maybe get second or win the race but there is still a little bit of learning to do to get close to their pace.”
His cousin, Faisal Raffii, completed the top four in both races three and four, just as he did on Friday. 16-year-old karting graduate Abdulla Al-Thawadi was fifth in race three, while, in race four, it was Malaysian 42-year-old Ashraff Dewal who finished fifth. Italian FR2.0 graduate Tomasso Menchini did not participate in the Saturday races.
Next round of the series will take place in two weeks at Yas Marina.
Race 3 results
| Pos | Driver | Time/Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Emil Bernstorff | 16m46.847s | 15 |
| 2 | Nabil Jeffri | +15.844s | 15 |
| 3 | Raed Raffii | +19.838s | 15 |
| 4 | Faisal Raffii | +25.968s | 15 |
| 5 | Abdulla Al-Thawadi | +35.012s | 15 |
| 6 | Ashraff Dewal | +35.835s | 15 |
| 7 | Adeeb Kuzbar | +47.138s | 15 |
| 8 | Christophe Mariot | +59.794s | 15 |
| 9 | Ali Al-Khalifa | +1m.04.763s | 15 |
Race 4 results
| Pos | Driver | Time/Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Emil Bernstorff | 16m51.369s | 15 |
| 2 | Nabil Jeffri | +6.859s | 15 |
| 3 | Raed Raffii | +22.043s | 15 |
| 4 | Faisal Raffii | +26.643s | 15 |
| 5 | Ashraff Dewal | +35.647s | 15 |
| 6 | Abdulla Al-Thawadi | +46.799s | 15 |
| 7 | Adeeb Kuzbar | +47.926s | 15 |
| 8 | Christophe Mariot | +1m07.947s | 15 |
| 9 | Ali Al-Khalifa | +1 lap | 14 |